"We changed some things today and I'm not really sure whether it was the right way to go or not but we'll see tomorrow," the 23-year-old Briton said. Does anybody know what changes were made and why ? he was flying in fp1 then this unexpected time got me wandering

This is not speculative but definitely the great Uncle Ron will bring as much cranes for tomorrows race, who will forget about Hammi during wet races? he's amazing and blatantly brilliant behind the safety car or from the tow service of a crane..

I missed the shots of the blocking on TV, I was looking away at that point. But after checking the vids and pics in here (thanks everyone ) it's pretty clear that the McLarens were on the racing line when Heidfeld approached them, forcing him to swerve around them. Then Hamilton was like "oops, i can't be here" and stepped away but Heikki stayed on the line and blocked Alonso aswell. The other cars were outside the racing line, why couldn't they?

@Joostlamers, why do you feel you have to bring Australia Q1 in here, surely even you can see the difference of being in front of someone when there's still 10 min to go from that session than when they are on their last flyer. I guess sth's impeding you from seeing the facts, I wonder what it could be

When thy give such ridiculous penalties as the one on Alonso at Monza '06, I expect the stewards to be consistent. Bu we never know, do we?

Anyway, one thing is clear for me: the new quali system sucks big time, as I've already said after Australia.

Burn-out wrote:Rain comes late or before, the race will be an epic battle of course.

This is not speculative but definitely the great Uncle Ron will bring as much cranes for tomorrows race, who will forget about Hammi during wet races? he's amazing and blatantly brilliant behind the safety car or from the tow service of a crane..

LOL You better watch those statements or Hammi fans will come to haunt you

Anyway, I was watching GP2 after F1 quali and only then did it start to rain. And it wasn't too much either, the racing line was dry mid race.So i guess rain could come later in the afternoon.But I'm still hoping for a dry race tomorrow.

McLaren's drivers during qualifying in MalaysiaLewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen have each been moved five places down the grid for blocking rival drivers in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The McLaren pair were investigated by the stewards after qualifying following claims that they had impeded Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso in the closing stages of the session.

The two drivers were driving slowly back to the pits, having completed their final qualifying efforts, while other drivers were still on their fast laps.

Following several hours of deliberation by the stewards about whether or not the McLaren pair had done anything wrong, it was eventually decided that the duo should be punished.

A McLaren spokesman confirmed that the two drivers had been moved back five places each. He also said the team would not appeal the decision.

Hamilton was penalised for blocking Heidfeld, while Kovalainen got his penalty for blocking both the German and Alonso.

It means Kovalainen will now start from eighth place on the grid, with Hamilton one place behind him.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, who was lapping on the track close to the McLarens, said he felt Alonso was hurt more than Heidfeld by the blocking.

"I saw clearly that Alonso's lap was screwed because of, I think, Kovalainen staying on the racing line," he said. "Nick was a bit more lucky because his incident was before braking, so he could rejoin the good line.

"But Alonso, he had to brake inside and he lost for sure there a lot of time. It was quite dangerous."

LOL You better watch those statements or Hammi fans will come to haunt you

Anyway, I was watching GP2 after F1 quali and only then did it start to rain. And it wasn't too much either, the racing line was dry mid race.So i guess rain could come later in the afternoon.But I'm still hoping for a dry race tomorrow. [/quote]

The Macs are just so unfortunate today, same situation could happen to other teams, we're just trying to shed light.. Thanks for sharing 'em updates mate!!

It looks bad for McLaren if it's a dry race, but if it's wet they can still even win the whole race. Let's see, but at least now Ferrari has a nice group behind them blocking the McLarens.

on reflection, grid positions will be irrelevant as according to itv, it has been raining heavily at sepang since 0730GMT, so anything could happen if a wet track goes dry, stays wet, drys erratically etc. But here's to a Kovy v Ham v Nando fight into Turn 1